(h/t to Treehugger via Sam Smith's Progressive Review)
Idea Mill: Little free libraries
Tree Hugger - Andrew Carnegie built an impressive 2,509 libraries around the turn of the 20th century. Now Rick Brooks and Todd Bol are on a mission to top his total with their two-foot by two-foot Little Free Libraries, reports Michael Kelley in Library Journal.
The diminutive, birdhouse-like libraries, which Brooks and Bol began installing in Hudson and Madison, Wisconsin, in 2009, are typically made of wood and Plexiglas and are designed to hold about 20 books for community members to borrow and enjoy. Each Little Free Library runs on the honor system, displaying a sign that asks patrons to Take a Book, Leave a Book. "Everybody asks, 'Aren't they going to steal the books?'" Brooks told Kelley. "But you can't steal a free book."
Fifty libraries have been built so far, with 30 more underway and plans to expand into Chicago, Long Island, and elsewhere. Brooks and Bol have a long way to go to reach their goal of 2,510 libraries, but they're digging the ride. "At a personal, human level, it's very thrilling how it excites people," Bol shared with Kelley. "But on a larger plane, it's such a nice spark for literacy, art, and community all at once."
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1 comment:
We could use about 100 of these in E. Salem and N. Salem and S. Salem because the City of Salem is refuses to fund branch libraries. Salem keeps growing and yet it has the same number of branch libraries (1) it had decades ago. Our city prefers a Cadillac police and fire department and a Yugo library department. And now that our school district has made the huge mistake of laying off all the school librarians in all of our elementary and middle schools the chances that kids growing up in Salem will become good readers just got a lot worse. Talk about misplaced priorities. Shame on you Salem for cheating our kids. Oh yes, lets have a used book drive. That will solve the problem. Pathetic.
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